Lamentations 1:8-22 ▼

8 Jerusalem sinned greatly; Therefore she has become an impure thing. All who honored her despise her Because they have seen her nakedness; Even she herself sighs and turns away.

9 Her uncleanness was in her skirts; She did not remember her future. Therefore she has gone down astonishingly; She has no comforter. “See, O Yahweh, my affliction, For the enemy has magnified himself!”

10 The adversary has stretched out his hand Over all her desirable things, For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary, The ones whom You commanded That they should not enter into Your assembly.

11 All her people are sighing, seeking bread; They have given their desirable things for food To restore their souls. “See, O Yahweh, and look, For I am despised.”

12 “Is it nothing to all you who pass this way? Look and see if there is any pain like my pain Which was dealt severely to me, Which Yahweh grieved me with on the day of His burning anger.

13 From on high He sent fire into my bones, And it dominated them. He has spread a net for my feet; He has turned me back; He has made me desolate, Faint all day long.

14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound; By His hand they are knit together. They have come upon my neck; He has made my strength stumble. The Lord has given me into the hands Of those against whom I am not able to stand.

15 The Lord has rejected all my mighty men In my midst; He has called an appointed time against me To break my young men; The Lord has trodden as in a wine press The virgin daughter of Judah.

16 For these things I am weeping; My eyes run down with water; Because far from me is a comforter, One who restores my soul. My children are desolate Because the enemy has prevailed.”

17 Zion stretches out her hands; There is no one to comfort her; Yahweh has commanded concerning Jacob That the ones round about him should be his adversaries; Jerusalem has become an impure thing among them.

18 “Yahweh is righteous; For I have rebelled against His command; Hear now, all peoples, And behold my pain; My virgins and my young men Have gone into captivity.

19 I called to my lovers, but they deceived me; My priests and my elders breathed their last in the city While they sought food for themselves in order to restore their souls.

20 See, O Yahweh, for I am in distress; My inmost being is greatly disturbed; My heart is overturned within me, For I have been very rebellious. In the street the sword bereaves; In the house it is like death.

21 They have heard that I am sighing; There is no one to comfort me; All my enemies have heard of the evil done to me; They rejoice that You have done it. You have brought the day which You have proclaimed, So that they will become like me.

22 Let all their evil come before You; And deal severely with them as You have dealt severely with me For all my transgressions; For my groans are great and my heart is faint.”